I was in our local wallyworld last week to pick up some Royal Oak when I saw several 10 lb bags of B&B Oak lump and decided to try a couple of bags. I'd just cleaned my egg out and dumped in a load that came mid way up into the fire ring. First cook with it was a couple of pizzas at 500. The stuff sparked and spit and never really did settle down. Never really got clear smoke either. When I went to light it up again the next day I found that well over half of the charcoal had burned - never had that happen with ROcooking pizzas. The next cook burned through most of the rest the remnants along with most of the rest of the bag. (Burned 10 lbs of lump on 2 cooks? sheesh!)

This past Monday I dumped in part of the 2nd bag. Lit it up and it acted just like the first bag...but this time it smelled like coal...not charcoal...COAL. Again, it never cleared and our burgers ended up tasting 'coaly' as well. Now we love the flavor bood charcoal imparts but this stuff was just nasty. I still have half of the 2nd bag left and the remnants that are in the egg will be going back in the bag for disposal. Fortunately I had a chance to swing back by wallyworld yesterday to pick up some tried and true Royal Oak.

Thanks for chiming in, Yardburner! I agree, that's a great database for charcoal reviews. Yardburner, you need to start posting more, including some pix of your cooks! ScreamingChicken posts some great stuff...would love to know what the other moderators are grilling up!

This past Monday I dumped in part of the 2nd bag. Lit it up and it acted just like the first bag...but this time it smelled like coal...not charcoal...COAL. Again, it never cleared and our burgers ended up tasting 'coaly' as well. Now we love the flavor bood charcoal imparts but this stuff was just nasty.

Ewww...

Are you going to drop B&B a line to tell them about this? Maybe something happened along the way and either the charcoal or bag got contaminated.

Thanks for chiming in, Yardburner! I agree, that's a great database for charcoal reviews. Yardburner, you need to start posting more, including some pix of your cooks! ScreamingChicken posts some great stuff...would love to know what the other moderators are grilling up!

Yeah, I know, I know.

We're in the middle of some MAJOR renovations at homeand the time and place (or energy) just isn't available right now.

When it reaches completion I'll be sure to sharethe results and some cooks as well.

Thought I'd add an update...I sent an e-mail to the B&B folks and got a response in short order.

Here's a copy of the e-mail I sent:

"Hi, I wanted to write to you about my recent experience with a couple of bags of your Oak Lump Charcoal (10 lb bag, purchased at Walmart). Hate to say it but I was not pleased with the charcoal.

I use a Big Green Egg. Last week while making pizza, cooing at 475-500 degrees I burned well over half a bag of charcoal making two pizzas. I've never burned anywhere near that much lump in the past. The next cook pretty much finished off the bag. I opened a second bag that I had purchased and noticed that the charcoal smelled more like coal than charcoal and ultimately imparted a coal-like flavor to the burgers we tried cooking with it. I evantually cleaned the remaining lump out of my egg and returned it to the bag and reloaded the Egg with another lump that I've had good results with in the past.

Any suggestions what might have caused the fast burn and coal-like odor. I've talked with other folks who have had similar experiences and also with folks who consider B&B Oak one of their favorite charcoals.

I would like to like B&B to have as an alternative when I can't find my regular charcoal but so far B&B isn't it.

Thanks,

Steve D"

Here's their response:

"Hi Steve,

Thanks for your feedback and we are very sorry for your experience. Honeslty in the over 50 years in this industry we have never heard of such an experience as you have described, with that said im not sure how to answer your questions.We want to make this right for you somehow so we'll be happy to send you a couple free bags that will hopefully give you the #1 performance that has built our B&B brand out there as one of the bests natural lump charcoal in the market.Please provide your shipping address and we'll get this going your way.Travis KainerB&B Charcoal Inc. "

I know their bag says 'satisfaction guaranteed' so I hope they don't think I was just angling for a freebie. Since they're going to send me a couple bags to try I'll give 'em another try. So far their charcoal may not have impressed me but their customer service has.

So the B&B story continues. When we got home from work this evening there were two HUGE boxes on our front porch addressed to me. I didn't remember ordering anything and Connie swore she hadn't ordered anything for me. Looked at the shipping label and it said C&C Wood and I began to wonder if it might be charcoal. I was going to open the boxes right then but I had agreed to cook supper while Connie took care of some other thing.

After supper I finally got around to opening the charcoal. Turns out they didn't send me two 10-lb bags like they said they would. Instead they sent two 20-lb bags! Hope I change my mind about it because now I have 40 lbs to play with (in addition to about 8 1/2 pounds of the nasty stuff that I don't know what to do with).

Jury may still be out on their charcoal but their customer service is great!